Entrepenurship General

Self employed with a half business/ half job (still requires a full workweek on my end). Started in a garden shed with $50 in 2014. Doing 6figures in rented commercial space with 1099 subs now. I came here when dogecoin was pumped (the beginning in 2012); i abandoned this shithole in 2015, because everyone is just looking for no work/ no investment moon trips from mom's basement.

I can help with questions about side hustles and starting a service oriented shit, if anyone is interested in boring/ dirty business.

How do you get started in renting comercial space with that little money ?

I don't rent commercial space as a business. I moved from a family members garden shed to a real light industrial space. I was just describing the evolution from nothing to something.

Also, I'll put out there for any lurkers. I don't know shit, despite feeding and sheltering a family of three in a very expensive region doing my own thing.

You want REAL advice, head over to M.J. Demarco's fastlane forum, and read his books.

Im going to make wegs. If those russians can get patreon shekels using daz and broken english, then I can too.

What is your business? You can be fairly vague if you want but give us an idea of what you do at least. Congrats also, it's not easy to actually support a family being self employed. How long did it take you to go from shed to building? I want to start my business small at home and then eventually rent a space.

What is a weg?

I build furniture and sell it on a few different ecommerce venues and just expanded to a few real locations that pipe buyers directly to my own website.

It took about a year of building a reputation as a hobbyist before I felt comfortable with having monthly overhead and I started paying my half of the bills at home.

I definitely could've short cutted that time frame by using some bogus reviews and having the balls to push into other venues sooner. If you build an ok product and you know this, and you're in a market that expects you to prove your salt first, don't be afraid of crossing an ethical boundary or two to save time. The only thing that matterd is you provide a good service that people feel was a fair exchange of value. Feedback systems and digital reputation are all smoke and mirrors anyways.

Did you always know how yo build furniture or just start from complete scratch and teach yourself how? Is it a special type/niche or just basic stuff people need like tables etc?

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Very very basic. As a matter of fact, I dis discontinued all of the complex shit to focus on the higher profit/ hr simple shit (tables, basic cabinets, etc).

I knew how to hold a screw gun coming in, and a couple of YouTube vids later, I'm better qualified than 100% of nurses and basedmilk fellas at turning $100 of pine into a $700 table.

You can literally pick a non licensed field of service out of a hat, and a YouTube video or two later, be qualified enough to sell it (probably at a discount) to someone who doesn't have the time or capacity to do it themselves.

Bump.

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Yo wanna collaborate? U from EU? I got some shit to sell. Offering a fair commission. Need someone in italy best case

US broseph. Watcha got though?

(checked)
Fucking based
Nice user that's actually really inspiring! Mind if I save your post? Some people don't realize the wealth of info online it's insane.

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Like 300tons/month of a very competitive priced commodity CIF 2 italian ports. Wanna give it a go?

My plan has me eventually hiring slavs and other people from areas with a low cost of living relative to the USA for remote work. Basically data entry, but will need some with a nursing degree for basic decision tree analysis for file handling. Anyone have experience with hiring remote for workers, or tips on how best to go about finding good talent? Or their expectations on pay?

>My plan has me eventually hiring slavs
Don't try to exploit people that have nothing to lose

Thank you, I'm reading this while running late to work and Mr. Shekelstein might kill me, but at least you have given me some hope I may avoid starvation

It's not exploitation. It's a fair wage.

I want to try e-commerce/dropshipping/affiliate marketing or other online businesses but I don't want to risk money if I don't have a strong idea that will generate worthwhile returns.

Anyone in a similar position?

western erotic game
go to /aco/ they have a general

I've been doing webdev courses online. It's slow going because between wagecucking and other obligations I can't spend much time per week on it.
I flirted with the idea of just quitting wagecucking and living off savings for 6 months whilst I plough every waking hour in to learning web development.

My dream is to freelance and work from wherever in the world I want.

Thanks dude. Save it, it's all yours my friend.

WAYYYY outta my league dude. I'm small time.

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Fellow wagie here
Get fucking psyched dude and come up with ideas while working. Write them down on a notepad or your phone while waging. Do it until eventually you have enough ideas to test out and see what sticks. We're all gonna make it and escape the jewrat race.
Id do remote work if you paid me 1500 usd a month. No exp with data entry or nursing tho.
Thanks for clearing that up. I bet if you did like a xeno ero game you'd get some cult followers. I also thought like a cthulu mythos dating sim would be cool. Good luck user

Any one here run an authority site?

I highly doubt you can do something without risking money. At least consider spending a smaller amount while finding the cheapest way to do something. Make a few tshirt designs and sell on one of those print on demand websites for free. That will only cost you time and effort.

I hope you find success user. I don't advise quitting maybe taking less hours to devote your time to study? But it's your choice ultimately. I'm big on not touching savings personally.

Does anyone have any experience with vending machines? I have a couple ideas at a specific business that could use a specific product within a vending machine that would benefit the employees. (I also work in the building that I happen to have this idea for. So I have a feeling this would sell pretty well and even scale if I figure out the profit margin/math/whatever.) I've got no money and little drive, but I'll ask anyway.

How much would a machine cost?
Is it something I would rent from a machine manufacturer? (The end goal is that I would have enough money and experience to start building my own custom machines.)

IF this were to happen; How could I get the business to agree to put my machines in their building? Is it possible?
Would I have to pay rent to the building or business instead?
Or do I have to be the vending machine manufacturer?

I'm out of questions for now. Actually even asking gives me a bit of a model on what to do already. I just need some investment money.

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Do you guys think selling your old stuff on ebay is worth it? I have a huge video game collection that I don't touch anymore and it's just sitting boxes. I've always avoided ebay due to the hassle of dealing with buyers and returns (also how paypal always sides with the buyer).

I figure if you have a big operation you can deal with the losses but selling one off things makes it seem like it wouldn't be worth the trouble.

I was into reselling for a while. Videogames aren't worth it unless you sell old-school ps gsme like resident evil and silent hill which can sell for 30+ dollars each. They also sell quick. People with large amounts of games like you sell in lots. If you want to get them off your hands of suggest a yard sale or Craigslist. I resell shoes on eBay which is only worth it if they're special edition and it's the right time like they're still hyped and in demand. Like buying for 100 and selling for 400 etc.

how is that not just a place to sell each other ebooks?
seems like a bunch of credible old forums dudes, sell their ebooks to new members

Pretty sure even places with gumball machines pay a percentage for the ability to operate in a building or business. You would probably have to talk with the management of the place you're looking to put your machine in.
The last user that posted about his vending machine biz said he started with one and became a successfully run business with more machines all over the place.
Don't forget to do your own research and due diligence. I am not a vending operator but I have some basic common sense knowledge working in a mall with lots of machines. You'll have to pay for product, power (probably), a percentage of profits, machine repair, but it all depends on the management of the building and their terms.
Don't know where you can buy machines but you should look more into it. If you like Japanese vending machines like your pic related, you could def find some and put them in those Tokyo lifestyle stores I see in every mall, and sushi places. Vending user said he was working on getting more complicated and cool machines from Japan.

I believe that 3D printing is the future and that there is definitely money to be made in it. Currently I just make money off of selling little trinkets out of my apartment on campus but I’m hoping to someday own a full blown operation.

I'm interested in this since I make 3D models, could you provide more info like where you sell stuff, etsy?

You could spend a month digging through just the gold and notable threads specific to your category over there; then, start your own thread if there's some gaps in knowledge. The only one I'd ever personally considering buying anything from, aside from M.J. of course, would be Andy Black. Google advertising is WAY more complicated than it seems on the surface, and I'm saying that as someone whose actually pulling in a 1350% roi with online ads.

Model and print stuff from video games / shows / pop-culture shit.
Paint them semi-professional and sell them in dedicated fan groups and hope you won't get fucked up due to some copyright laws.

My nigga. You were the guy who helped me with my questions last time. Thanks bruv

Here is a link that has great info in their OP I found it very helpful. I'm also looking to get into 3D printing as a business hopefully next year. Any good tips you can give for making 3D models/software?

Forgot link

thanks for your explaination, although I am very skeptic.

3D printed an painted replicas from vidya and such are abysmal on ebay. I've seen people selling really good looking props for 15 bucks. Def shill directly to the fandom you make stuff for.

Wow thank you so much dude! I want to start off more simple of course, I would like to eventually have at least a CC/phone payment system, but that's also getting ahead of myself. My building already has several snack machines. Now that I think about it, even those snack machines, I imagine the profit is for the building, not so much an outsider. I would be selling a non-food item that is very popular, I'd have to see how it would work out. I wouldn't know how to even begin here but the process of trying might be interesting. Power/product/repair, is to be expected. Management and terms is what's most concerning to me. I will do my research, at the very least that is something I am good at.

What are good ways to advertise a online math tutoring business? I only have $50 to invest in online ads and I have a website.

ok, one has to target a niche market to work towards.
As soon as something new comes out or something is announced, worke on the first thing fangirlies are hyping.
With practise and some nice ideas I am sure there is a lot of money in that field.

I gotta say I agree with this. So far at least FIVE of my last interests have involved needing a 3D printer in some shape or form. It's not something I could have access to. There was no escaping needing a 3D printer or even simply access to one from someone I knew. So there is absolutely a need for 3D printing in the future, especially as the technology improves.

Perfectly understandable. I'm skeptical as fuck too, but the dudes over there are pretty legit. For the most part, if the reputable dudes over there are selling something and it applies to what you're doing, I'd at least investigate it if it was in the budget time/ money-wise.

In person tutelage, right?

Local Facebook groups will be free. Just bang out some emotional copy about investing in their children with a link back to your site or fb page. With google, target the demo to females only, upper income, and within driving distance to you. Make sure the keywords and ad verbiage is super specific to people looking to hire a tutor, not just general math question searches.

Shit... I gotta read better.
>online

How does your service and pricing comp out against other offerings? Are they going to be able to crush you in cpc because they charge way more and are super slick and professional?

Thanks for the advice. I'm thinking I could do in person or online tutoring, but I should probably start with in-person to get some testimonials and (hopefullu) build up a client base. Great suggestion.

Of course no problem. Im mostly brainlet but I absorb and remember stuff okay. There is huge a machine that sells proactive items in my place of work. It does EXTREMELY well I was actually surprised. The guy who refills it told me how good it does even though it's like 40+ bucks for small bottles and refills. Luxury items like that can do well even if you don't think it's in demand. Think about the types of people in your environment as well. Luxury things do well here because it's mainly Armenians living here. They love flashing cash and spending it. What types of people will frequent the area? Also look into smaller things like arcade games and even gumball machines if you want to start small. The dude who owns the gumball machines in the mall here makes serious bank and pays his employee really well. Arcade machines in laundromats could work well too. 500 bucks for a machine + upkeep and percentage to the owner of the place. Good luck!

Incredible, thank you so much. You see I didn't even think about that. You've given me some more ideas actually!! I'm saving all your notes.

The awesome thing about what you want to do is residual $$$. Your ads, unlike mine, aren't just a one off big ticket sale. You'll have a sizeable percentage of respondents hooked for several years if you're on your shit.

Try to push discounted annual subscriptions like a gym or karate studio. That way if the kid drops out, you still made your bones.

Cool glad I could help! Sorry for id change had problems with my connection. I am still wagie haha and have had these ideas but afraid of investing capital to do them. Hope they work for you. If you go with arcade games I would suggest prize games or metal slug/shooting games/marvel vs capcom. Nostalgia factor and the graphics appeal to kids and adults.

Service - mine is above average for individual companies but below large companies (like Kaplan and others), I'd say.
Pricing - I usually charge $40/hour, but I haven't had clients in a while (though my business has sorta been on hiatus and I just decided to get back into it).
And yeah, my website isn't slick at all compared to companies.
That's probably true. I wonder if, instead of starting with tutoring, I'd have better luck with something like this, since I'm a fast writer and a good coder:
>Make an online algebra textbook or something (first chapter or so free, rest behind a paywall)
>Try to make it as "fun" as possible to appeal to the moms who want their kids to be entertained when they do math
>Have the text, quizzes and exercises at the end of each chapter
>Add a textbook each month so that I could do a monthly / yearly pass
>Sell the textbooks on the Kindle store (using Kindle Unlimited for some) and use that to both make $ and push my website
>Make Twitter, Facebook and (ugh) Tumblr accounts to repost stuff popular in math communities (like graphs and visualizations)
>Sell my tutoring services on top of that - at this point I should have more of a reputation
(I'm in school, so I'm not in a huge rush to make a profit)

careful or you end up like this guy

youtube.com/watch?v=HZOYiy7Wfb0

Is this the guy who made the homies and lost it all for some reason?

i deliver pziza for $17~/hour and want to make some more on the side to drop more into my retirement each month

all these cheap things in the OP seem like scams, what the hell is affiliate marketing or 'dropshipping', how the hell do you buy an entire ATM I've never seen one that isnt owned by a bank, slumlording what the hell man, POS systems are all managed by the company that uses them

please help i have ilke $5k cash to start something up

I put a disclaimer in OP that it was from old OP many threads ago. It's more of a jump off point for ideas I would say. Have you looked through the thread? There's screencap of ideas and lots of discussion. What are you interested in? Maybe we could brainstorm. You already make perfect amount of wagie cash to survive. I'm actually jelly I make 12.25 and hour :/ let's see what we can come up with!

lmao, I've seen this guy before, he seems a bit unhinged lol. But yes I DO worry about this. However, I believe technology will allow us to go payless eventually. Won't need to chase after quarters every damn day. Only maintenance and stocking, which could be automated and reported on as well.

He could have adapted though. He had a good brand with unique toys and at the height of popularity at the time. Could have sold the rights or made them into a real toyline. He cpuld have grown it into a brand. Theyd love it here in LA. Look how shopkins and grossery gang have done. I know a 9 year old who went crazy for those toys.

i definitely make more than enough, my total costs each month are under $2k and I invest over $1k monthly, but I dont want to work until I'm 45 full time I want to retire quicker than that

How do you get into owning part of a vending machine, batting cage, maybe a mini golf course, etc? I obviously have no idea how ownership of those work, but I would definitely be interested in owning a part of any of those.

I assume all of these things produce more than 10% ROI annually? Thats pretty trivial to make long term in the stock market and these things all require more effort and risk so I'd want likely 20% on my money.....could paying say $10,000 into part of a vending machine produce $2,000 for me alone, after all taxes/costs/other owners?

come on bro you had one job too do
your missing the /entg/ , nonetheless thanks for starting it

nice blade runner theme you got going on here i like it

hey Jow Forums In my case I am involved in two businesses. First I am part of a small tech company that some friends formed. In reality I do little to nothing here but the guys are making bank. I'm part of the directory so they can't get rid of me. Currently devising some projects to start making a few bucks on the side with this endeavor. The other one is cattle farming. Where I'm from cattle farming is very profitable and I want to put 10k on cattle to make a profit. This business is going to be very cheap for me as I'm doing it with my dad and sister. We have land available to do so. I have been saving a few years doing a very low paying job (Teaching.) so it's a great oportunity to change my financial landscape. Which is my biggest problem nowadays. I think that cattle farming can help me on the short term but the tech company can help me greatly on the long run. Teaching pays for shit and I hate it. It's so dead end and I can't see myself grading papers until I'm 65-70 years old like my professors at college. What do you think?

>mfw pre 2017 Jow Forums
the true golden age

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Hey now no need to be so ungrateful, you were carrying these threads by yourself so I thought I would help out since ive gained a lot from reading them. I've even kept them alive for you all this time.
Also leave my boy Brendan alone he cute

You would def need more than 5k to become an owner or partial owner of a business and that's just from what I've read. I would like to help but the type of questions youre asking would take research and due diligence in your neck of the woods. It is possible to be a silent owner of a biz who just collects on his investment without having to manage anything. In your area, where you live what business is successful? Dunkin donuts? Is it possible to buy? How much will you offer the franchise owner in exchange for that cashflow? It's all particular to your area and actually going to these places and networking. Unless another user can provide some insight in this thread. You may be better off flipping websites or something else with minimal investment. I am just a humble brainlet with obscure knowledge and a bit of common sense. If you have a particular interest we could bounce ideas on building that into a business.

It sounds like the cattle thing is pretty good if you have land, employees (family), and basic knowledge of the business. If you don't want to give up the tech job maybe figure out how to do both? Maybe have your dad and sister be the main guys and you work the tech job then use the money from your tech job to pump into your cattle biz until you don't need to work the tech job anymore. So you're sure you have some security monetarily. Just my opinion. But you do what you feel is right.

I live in a rich 95%+ white suburb of Kansas City.

I'm not necessarily looking to own a 'full business' with other employees, just something on a much smaller scale I can manage myself a few hours a week to get use to it. Im thinking shit like a RedBox, if those are even still profitable, has Netflix totally killed those yet? People still use vending machines all the time too, but at this point surely everywhere profitable already has one sitting there.

Im not really looking to get more than $5k into anything just in case I suck at this and it fails.

I do like the idea of owning jsut a part of franchises but why would owners take me up on that? If you own a Subway/McDonalds/PizzaHut etc, why would you take something relatively small like $5k or even $10k cash for a few % of cashflow? Surely businesses of those size arent hurting for cash that badly?

So I just do face to face sales with people on campus right now. Over the summer I’m thinking of opening an Etsy shop or seeing if some local stores would want anything 3D printed to sell.

>no need to be so ungrateful
oh lol i didnt mean it ungratefully, i was being sarcastic but i guess sarcasm is harder over text lmao.

I still see people going to redboxes all the time. And you'd be surprised how many places could be more profitable with vending machines. Further up one of my posts gave some examples of stuff that is small scale.
>arcade games in laundromats
>Japanese vending machines for jap stores in malls
>gumball machines in malls
>bitcoin atms in black areas
Redboxes do well here in LA with poor people. But I'm not sure what rich white people would want. Novelty? I mean there was those rich whites in silicon valley who would spend thousands on chickens of great pedigree just to live like "hillbillys" for the novelty. Figure out what those people want and shill it to them. Do they like status symbols? What kinds of items in vending machines would they buy? IPhones? Gold? Watches? Study these people where they gather. It sound alike you just want to buy part if a business but it would be better to start small scale and run it yourself.

No worries. The only thing that comes through in text here is schizos lol

I do partially just want to own part of a business from a conceptual point of view your right on that.

My issue is its 2018, why would there still be profitable opportunities available on small scale projects? If a spot could maintain a vending machine why would one not already be there? How would you even determine how much revenue say 1 vending machine would generate? Is owning 1 even worthwhile in terms of actually getting product to it, you wouldnt be buying much at once would a distributor even deal with you on such a small scale?

Im sure that vendhing machines print money in hospital waiting rooms, people are antsy and nervous and Americans love to stress eat, but everybody else knows that too I'm not stumbling on something new so those spots shoudl all be filled up. Malls are basically dead in America too, in my area 1 already got razed and the other major one is not quite as popular as it use to be.

We do have some laundromats around here in poorer areas where people mostly live in apartments without washer/dryers, but how would you even go about finding out revenue from that and what the business owner would want as a flat fee or % to take up some space in their store?

Without knowing somebody that already does this shit it seems like there are WAY too many opportunities to be taken advantage of or make stupid decisions if your just figuring it out on your own.

You sound like you've already given up my dude. I can't really help you with a defeatist attitude. You are asking a lot of questions for things that I have no answer for. I can only guess and offer my opinion. You have to do the legwork my friend. People carve out a living doing oversaturated shit everyday. If malls are a no-go and you don't want to hunt for a place for your vending machine I suggest you do something online with minimal money but lots of time. The internet is an incredibly vast ocean of instant information. You could watch youtube or just research the best spots to visit in your area. Poor people have tons of kids, kids like vidya, go to manager of laundromat offer a 70/30 split in machine placed there and really sell it say you can get kids to come back. Maybe there's a school nearby, who knows you have to scope out locations I don't live in Kansas I live in LA. Yeah you might get taken advantage of because you didn't do your due diligence. My father is the same way. There's risk taking, and then there's a calculated risk. I took a huge risk reselling with minimal info. Spent 300 but made it back luckily. Then I did more research niched it down, got the timing right and the hype for the product and made a great profit. But I knew I could return the item with my receipt if it didn't sell, so no money was really lost. Calculated risk. You have to be informed, have common sense, and most importantly a positive attitude.

Anyone have any good guides for ATM machines? I read a lot about them a few years ago, and now that I have some money to invest, I'm interested in the specifics.

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No guides sorry. I do have vague details though from atmanon.
>bought physical machines from either jap or chink company can't remember which (probably jap)
>set it up himself
>used his own cash to refill machines
>hired his bro to help refill machines
>charged $3 bucks I think to use unsure about that part
>placed in high traffic areas he had connections to i.e. really popular nightclubs and bars
Which I could be more help but couldn't find an archive link to the original thread.

not given up i wanna make it but just unsure where to start

your right internet has basically everything we need, ill spend some time researching and see what I can manage

Appreciate the help sir, keep dominating LA and keep these threads poppin

Lol I wish. Just humble wagie looking to make something stick. Don't give up, a positive attitude is what separates you from the dregs and NPCs. They're all miserable no matter how good they have it, even anons on here. Keep smiling and don't get knocked down. If you're unsure, just keep looking it up. Make sure you take calculated risks, don't spend more than you're willing to lose.
I hope I make it. Really for me 2000 a month is making it because I'm frugal.

I spend less than $2k a month as well and make $3k, so i'm just accumulating index funds for the time being.

Honestly doing research I feel like a lot of these things aren't any better returns wise than the stock market, which requires no effort at all and is effectively guaranteed over a long timeframe.

If I can make 15-20% annually with a 1.5x leveraged stock portfolio, I would need to be making like 40% on my money if I'm spending my time on it to make it worthwhile

your right I agree that just being here posting means we aren't NPCs, keep your costs down low like you are and we will both make it whatever we do

Yeah I've been waiting to save another 5k to put into stocks but people here keep saying no it's gonna collapse, but then oh even in a depression stocks do okay. A lot of conflicting info. Im going to start with 5k and then dollar cost average in. I also would just like to work for myself and not wagecuck so I can wake up when I want and spend time with my family on the east coast. So even if doing a side biz is not monetarily your best option, it has it's pros like keeping busy and having a hobby that kind of thing. Even wagecucking for me personally helps me become social since I am pretty reclusive. Everything is a tradeoff. You do you. You sound like a smart guy so if stocks work better, stick with it. Good to hear you are saving and investing that cash. I make somewhere around 1300 a month after taxes. It's shite. My hours got cut but the job is easy as pie and little stress. Any recs on index funds/investments for a newbie? Do you use vanguard?

Right now my dad actually maxes a ROTH IRA for me annually, its $5500 max and its taxed upon entry, and tax free when you pull the money out, after age 59.5 Research ROTH IRA its likely your first investment each year you should get into if you dont have a 401k at work.

I buy:
QQQ - Nasdaq index fund
SPY - SP500 index fund
these are truly all you need, they are heavily weighted towards the best companies in the world by nature of how index funds work so simply buy every time you can and dont sell.

Also dont 'save up' to buy into the markets, nobody knows what the future holds besides the markets trend upwards longterm, and as such buying as soon as you can is always the best choice.

I dont have Vanguard/Fidelity etc yet, I just buy my own stuff through Robinhood and use tradingview dot com as necessary to look at charts etc

Ultimately I would use Robinhood in your position and buy using limit orders, research them, never buy using market buys. Since Robinhood is commission free you can buy very frequently, I personally buy twice a month $500 each time. I buy basically in order back and forth between QQQ and SPY.

Always remember the markets ALWAYS go up, so buy as often as you can and never sell, thats the #1 rule always. Any QQQ or SPY you buy right now should not be sold for literally decades. Compound interest is smarter and more powerful than you ever will be personally, no offense its the same for me, so let it do its thing over not just days, or weeks, or months, or years, but decades

I will be gone for a few hours starting now but can answer anything else you wish in like 3 hours. I just got into investing myself this summer and had to learn what your looking to know myself and I got a good handle on it now.

Buy and hold, patience wins 100% of the time

Thanks so so much for the advice I'm def saving it for future reference. I had played around with robin hood my first time lurking biz but never went anywhere with it. If it's free I'll start putting inwjat I can each month so thanks for the advice. I wanted to use vanguard but didn't want to tie up like my whole savings basically, so I haven't tried investing at all. I will see if my old account it still active and take your advice to heart. I may look into roth like you suggested. My company sucks and I don't want to buy into them. Will do some research on my own. I've heard about compound interest and the spy because of Warren buffet memes here. If I can think of any questions I'll ask. Thanks again.

Hey guys, after dreaming of making a product for a long time I finally began making it earlier this year. So far I have a small portfolio of 3D models showing what I can do. I'm a very amateur industrial/product designer, my background is in a health field so I'm trying to tap into the art side of this field, which is niche upon niche, so much that I'm not even sure if it'd be profitable, but it's fun as hell. Over the span of my non-productive dreaming a few companies have popped up and have grown. I want to either find my way in to those companies or grow my own.
The big issue right now is that I haven't talked directly to the customers to see if anyone would even want one. I've just been growing my professional network. So far I have 3 people of interest that I've been keeping up with who have told me they'd give me opportunities. The reason I haven't gone to a customer yet is because 1. I feel my product isn't good enough and to make it for them, I would have a whole new set of things I'd have to do, I'm worried about not finishing it in a timely manner. 2. I don't speak the language of the land I live in now.

To quell those 2 problems, one of my connections in an actual industrial designer native to this country, who said he'd introduce me to people of interest and give me advice and ideas. One idea of his I already followed up on and will showcase it to him tomorrow.
The other contact is with a big 3dp company who said he'd get me a pitch with the HQ. Finally, the last one is a professional artist who said he'd include my work in a gallery at some point, I talk to him the most because he's not as busy as the former two.

Now... for some reason I don't fully trust the native industrial designer guy. 2 months ago I met with him and he said he'd show my model to the guy who funded his last project, but he's been silent despite a few follow ups. I've just been talking to our translator in the meantime who has weird vibes. We're meeting tomorrow night.

Sorry for the long complicated post. Thanks for this thread! 3D prosthetic hand guy from previous threads: Let me know if you need advice.

Hey I'm the prosthetic hand guy. Man I wish I could help or give some advice. The only real advice so could give you is: listen to your insincts. If you get a weird vibe something could be up. He might be trying to steal your idea/product or something. I have personally ignored my instincts time after time and it always ends up bad. Do ehat you feel is right, there will always be more opportunites.
Art wise I guess I would advise to study product design magazines? I've seen a few sold in like the mag section in barnes and nobles bookstore. Could give you ideas or insight into ehat looks aesthetic.
Not sure about approaching customers. Maybe pay some people off of Craigslist to come together and discuss/review your product for feedback? This is where I assume big companies would do their product testing/surveys. Wish I could be more help but I have like zero experience with anything lol. Good luck to you and trust yourself no matter what decision you make.
Prosthetics wise I have a few questions.
Is it more profitable to run a 3D printing business by renting machines mostly and then sell prosthetics on the side? I feel like people would rather want to print their own stuff. If still get to work on prosthetics though. Also what kind of software can I use for 3D modeling? Is it difficult to get started in? Thanks for any input and good luck!

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their always room for your knowledge bro! How did you conduct your research into prosthetic hands? What made you settle on it?

Yo prosthetic hand guy! Thank you for your advice! I will meet this guy but I wont give away too much about what I'm doing now. I'll definitely prepare and try to figure out more of his side and see if I'm comfortable with him on this second meeting.
I'm probably going to go hit up a bookstore now that you mention it. I've been inspired by ancient civilizations, Alphonse Mucha and biological structures.
I just decided that I will make a pamphlet that will do the talking for me. My GF can translate it for me and maybe help me talk to customers. I'll be fishing by the end of next month.

To answer your questions:
A lot of people find 3D printing fascinating, but I'd say the convenience of another person doing it for a fee smaller than that of buying/renting a machine on their own would outweigh that fascination. I use Blender, but the community that works on the hands you're interested in uses AutoCAD fusion 360, which is free just like blender. You might need a student e-mail for fusion though. I've met the CEO of that group, his vibe is kind of weird but his heart is in the right place, his intention is to just make basic hands for cheap for 3rd worlders or poor kids. The thing is, with pediatric prosthetics, this type of thing is valuable for every kid since their body is constantly changing and growing, and to get a full on prosthetic with a custom socket to fit them at every stage of their childhood is crazy expensive. This field is very neat, I suggest you check out orthotics as well. I've seen some 3D printed arm braces and scoliosis braces here and there. You can also looking into schooling, but they lie about O&P professionals getting 100% employment. It's slowly becoming more saturated now that it's a masters degree program and no one wants to hire a graduate that didn't get grandfathered in through the apprenticeship process that it used to be.